"The United States charged a radical Muslim cleric arrested in Britain on Thursday with aiding terrorists by plotting to create an al Qaeda training camp in America and supporting a hostage-taking attack in Yemen. Just hours after police arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri in a pre-dawn raid in London, U.S. officials announced his indictment in Manhattan federal court on charges that could carry the death penalty.

The 11-count indictment, which was returned by a grand jury on April 19, specifically charges Abu Hamza, 47, with giving "material support and resources to terrorists."

He is accused of having a role in a December 1998 hostage-taking attack in Yemen in which four people were killed and trying to help al Qaeda set up a "terrorist training camp" in Bly, Oregon, from October 1999 to early 2000.

Abu Hamza is also suspected of supporting violence by al Qaeda -- blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 -- and the Taliban in Afghanistan (news - web sites) by providing funds and services."

Apparently Micheal moore has more footage of the Nick Berg interview. I don't know how he got his hands on it. The killers released the tape to Al Jazeera.

Either Al-Jazeera did not air the whole tape, or the terrorists did not give them the whole tape. If it is the former then Moore must have contacts inside Al-Jazeera. If it is the latter then Moore must have contacts with the terrorists.

In either case, I find it strange that Moore has someow come into possession of the tape for many reasons.

The news link states this:
"The footage, of an interview with Berg, 'is approximately 20 minutes long. We are not releasing it to the media,' Moore said in a statement. 'It is not in the film. We are dealing privately with the family.'
Neither Moore nor his representatives would describe the nature or contents of the interview with Berg, who held staunch pro-war views. "

Did Nick Berg hold staunch pro-war views? That is not the impression that I got from his father, who held staunch anti-war views. I remeber his father stating that Berg "was their friend," in discussing the terrorists. This is an AP story so maybe they have other sources.

This is quite possibly the sickest thing I have read in quite some time:

"Apparently taking a break from his continuing search for the real killers, O.J. Simpson is hoping to mark the 10th anniversary of wife Nicole's savage murder June 12 - along with the fatal knifing of unlucky waiter Ron Goldman - by cashing in big-time.

Star Magazine reports that Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, has been shopping his client around for paid interviews.

'It will be expensive,' the mag quotes Galanter. 'TV rights are going for $100,000. For print rights, between $20,000 and $25,000.'

Nothing if not classy, Galanter adds that O.J. might even be willing to do a photo shoot at the Brentwood crime scene and at Nicole's grave site - if the price is right.

'It would have to be a multimillion-type deal,' Galanter says. A grave site photo would be 'worth $500,000 ... Our preference is a standard interview ... but it's just money.'"

The saddest thing about this story is that right now proposals are probably being drafted. And in some tabloid newsroom somewhere in this country the phrase:"I bet we could get him to do it for $50K" is being said.

Sinsanity vs. WJS on the WSJ notes in an article today on the links between Saddam and Al Quaeda that: "It is an article of faith among war opponents that there were no links whatsoever--that 'secular' Saddam and fundamentalist Islamic terrorists didn't mix."

"The memo also details the actions of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi living in Malaysia. Yet the only documented contact between Shakir and the Iraqi government is Shakir's own claim that he obtained a job at an airport 'through an Iraqi embassy employee.' And regarding the controversial meeting between Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague, the memo substantiates two meetings (one in December 1994 and one in June 2000) but notes that evidence surrounding two others, including one in April 2001 that has been cited by Bush administration officials, 'is complicated and sometimes contradictory"

Not so fast counters the WSJ:

One striking bit of new evidence is that the name Ahmed Hikmat Shakir appears on three captured rosters of officers in Saddam Fedayeen, the elite paramilitary group run by Saddam's son Uday and entrusted with doing much of the regime's dirty work. Our government sources, who have seen translations of the documents, say Shakir is listed with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

This matters because if Shakir was an officer in the Fedayeen, it would establish a direct link between Iraq and the al Qaeda operatives who planned 9/11. Shakir was present at the January 2000 al Qaeda "summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at which the 9/11 attacks were planned. The U.S. has never been sure whether he was there on behalf of the Iraqi regime or whether he was an Iraqi Islamicist who hooked up with al Qaeda on his own.

Whether this Shakir is the same Shakir is still currently under investigation. And despite several captures, Shakir is still on the loose. When and if we capture him, the ties that bind these terrorists and their nations of support will be more clear.

Rasmussen Reports is releasing a daily poll result which covers three days of polling. But including the error rate, both candidates have stayed solid at 45% for a couple of months now.

They claim that the the national telephone survey of 1,500 Likely voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports over the past three nights. Margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Methodology.

Well considering that they have been producing the poll daily for the past 100 days or so that means that if they have never called the same person twice, they have contacted at least 150000 different likely voters. Or if they only contact 500 people each day and the poll is a rolling result, they have contact 50,000 different people.

Are there that many people in this country who will answer the phone and conduct a poll? I have never met anyone who participated in a Rasmussen poll.

More likely they are just calling the same 20 people something like this:

"Hey Jim, it me at Rasmussen again, changed your mind about the election?

Dr. Shahristani, trumpeted as the likely interim leader of Iraq withdrew his name from consideration on Wednesday, said in an e-mail message quoted by Reuters that he did not want the job but was prepared to take on the responsibility to serve his country.

A spokesman for Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy who has been leading the effort to build a new government, said Wednesday afternoon that Dr. Shahristani had "clarified that he would prefer to serve his country in other ways."

Smart man. Iraqi Interim Leaders have the life span of an injured cicadas in an avairy. It is sad that he made this decision however, but it portends that he would likely make a fine Iraqi leader.

"A German court ruled Wednesday that the leader of a radical Islamist group can be extradited to Turkey, saying he did not face human rights abuses in his home country, court officials said.

Metin Kaplan, head of a Cologne-based group known as the Kalifstaat (Caliphate state), is wanted in Turkey for plotting in 1998 to crash an aircraft loaded with explosives into the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern, secular Turkish state."

Heh. When people, and by people I mean Chris Matthews, pontificate on what model the Iraq democracy could follow, please people, metion Turkey. I have travelled there and while it is no western style democracy, it is an eastern style democracy that seems to work.

Hey when radical islamicist do not want to go there, it can't be all that bad.

T he only nugget of good news from the Justice Department's gloomy press conference Wednesday was that the government's intelligence efforts have improved since 9/11, when al-Qaida ``chatter'' about an upcoming major event was detected but not clearly understood.
Now, the information is more specific. The government knows that al-Qaida plans to launch a major attack in this country this summer. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the terrorist group ``is almost ready.''
It is good to see that FBI Director Robert Mueller was able to identify seven suspected operatives who may be traveling with their families to minimize suspicion. Still, federal agents do not know when, where or how the plot may unfold.

This the cold war, and it will last for quite some time. The war in Iraq has lessened that time period I think, but this war will still be ongoing for the reat of our lives.

"'Although some politicians elsewhere were skeptical of the timing -- coming as public opinion polls show deeply eroded confidence in the president -- several people interviewed at the airport today seemed willing to take the warning at face value. ... In general, they said the federal government was probably right to raise public awareness now, before a string of upcoming high-profile events that might make inviting targets: Saturday's dedication of a World War II monument in Washington, the 'G-8' economic summit in Georgia and the political party conventions in Washington and Boston.' The Mercury News adds, 'If Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Attorney General John Ashcroft believe they have credible evidence of terrorists who are already in the United States planning a major attack this summer, they were wise to warn people, the travelers said. But only if they develop more specific information should the color-coded threat level be increased. ... "

Exactly. Boy if only John kerry had said that he may have earned some respect, but no, another wasted chance.

Kerry is such a jackass. No matter how protected trains planes and automobiles were the threat would still exist. Should we just barricade ourselves with duct tape into a room. That would protect us, maybe.

The warning demostrates the administrations desire to give the public as much information as possible as soon as possible. That is a good thing. By playing politics with the threat it just causes the administration to be less forthright about threat conditions.

Who are these idiots who do not treat threats seriously? In response to Att. General Ashcrofts highly detailed threat assessment warning, where he essential threw out to the public all of the current information and steps that being taken to protect the country, and actually named names of suspects, this happened:

"Some Democrats in Congress, and union supporters of presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, said the timing of the threat report might have been intended to distract attention from the deteriorating situation in Iraq."

What Democrats? It is one thing for us no name idiots to pontificate surreptiously and through out baseless accusations, but these guys are supposed to be serious about this situation.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Who knew Republicans could be pithy?: "RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke issued the following statement today in response to a speech by former Vice President Al Gore attacking President Bush.
�Al Gore served as Vice President of this country for eight years. During that time, Osama Bin Laden declared war on the United States five times and terrorists killed US citizens on at least four different occasions including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the attacks on Khobar Towers, our embassies in East Africa, and the USS Cole.�
�Al Gore�s attacks on the President today demonstrate that he either does not understand the threat of global terror, or he has amnesia.� "

"In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president.
I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability... "

I cannot reccomend this link highly enough. In reponse to a farcical letter to the editor where a crazed lafty accuses Bush/Rumsfeld and company of starting the Iraq war to cull the young population of the United State, Ace writes:

"

....
Let's be sensible here. We all know that if the conservative dream of an omnipotent Father-State is to be realized, we need to break up the natural loyalties of human beings, that is, to their families and sexual partners, so that there is no other object of loyalty but the perpetual WarState.

To do that, we're going to have to end all natural sexual reproduction. All humanoids will be artificially conceived and grown in factory birthvats; sex will be prohibited, and natural, 'wildbirth' children will be hunted down and killed as enemies of the State.

We all know this. This isn't exactly controversial.

And naturally, young men, being the most corruptly addicted to sexual activities, as well as the most prone to violent revolt, will of course need to be greatly culled if a well-functioning corporate OmniState is to be realized within our lifetimes.

This isn't any big secret, Ms. Anderton. This is core Republican doctrine. Jonah Goldberg writes about it twice a month. "

"But give The Washington Post two vain, young, trash-mouthed skanks who couldn't care less about what their parents think of their sex-drenched infamy, and the newspaper can't wait to help make them full-fledged members of the media elite."

"Kerry should not tie his own hands by offering overly specific, detailed proposals concerning a situation that is rapidly changing and unfortunately, rapidly deteriorating, but should rather preserve his, and our country's, options, to retrieve our national honor as soon as this long national nightmare is over. "

I love it when politicians use the phrase "long national nightmare." Just great. Really puts things like the Civil War, the Great Depression and Vietnam in proper perspective.

Oh and I missed a couple of names on Gore's list. Gore stated:
"Donald Rumsfeld, as the chief architect of the war plan, should resign today. His deputies Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and his intelligence chief Stephen Cambone should also resign. The nation is especially at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as Secretary of Defense.

Condoleeza Rice, who has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy, should also resign immediately.

George Tenet should also resign. I want to offer a special word about George Tenet, because he is a personal friend and I know him to be a good and decent man. It is especially painful to call for his resignation, but I have regretfully concluded that it is extremely important that our country have new leadership at the CIA immediately."

I have a har time with this article. After a while it begins to resemble those mortgage quote assessments we have been recieving recently from realtors.

Apparently I am not alone in that respect:
""All the distance covered by the light in the early universe gets increased by the expansion of the universe," explains Neil Cornish, an astrophysicist at Montana State University. "Think of it like compound interest.""

That does not make it any easier.

Light does not travel on any medium but though a medium. how can the universe expand and take the light with it. Even if the universe was 156 billon light years wide it seems like light should only expand out about 26 billion light years.

From The Kerry Spot on National Review Online: "Al Gore is expected to call for the resignation of five Bush administration officials and one member of the military command who he blames for Abu Ghraib abuses and 'a failed policy in Iraq that is endangering American lives,' according to advance publicity.
Place your bets. My entry in the pool: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ashcroft, Tom Ridge and Richard Myers."

Herseth Set to Win in South Dakota: "With less than one week remaining in the campaign for South Dakota's U.S. House seat, Democrat Stephanie Herseth, who ran for the same seat in 2002, has maintained a comfortable lead over Republican Larry Diedrich, a poll shows. But Diedrich has been able to chip away at the 16-point lead Herseth held six weeks ago"

The ACLU has jumped off the boat once again and has filed a petition to remove the cross from the Los Angeles (that is "The Angels" in english) County Official Seal.

In case you have'nt seen the seal, here is a picture of it. They have blown up the image so that you can even find the cross. The cross was incorporated into the seal to represent the area's settlement by Spanish missionaries who, in the 1700s, founded two of California's famous missions in what is now Los Angeles County.

My new hero Micheal D. Anotonovich has sent them packing with some wonderful language in a letter to Ripston, He stated that the ACLU's letter was "right out of a George Orwell novel. Your failure to understand the history and to rewrite it from the so-called political correctness follows the hate of past book burners," the Daily News reported

And just to note:
"The seal's other symbols are: a triangle and calipers to represent industry - aerospace in particular; oil derricks; the Spanish galleon San Salvador that was sailed into San Pedro Harbor in 1542 by the explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo; and a tuna and a champion cow named Pearlette, for the once-huge fishing and dairy industries."

I wonder what Micheal Moore would say about this:
Clarke Claims full responsibility for Bin Laden Family Exodus

So who authorized the flights?

"Clarke said, “I take responsibility for it. I don’t think it was a mistake, and I’d do it again.”"

But didn't Bush authorize it????

"“It didn’t get any higher than me,” (Clarke) said. “On 9-11, 9-12 and 9-13, many things didn’t get any higher than me. I decided it in consultation with the FBI.”"

Of course this is not exactly what he said under oath:

"“The request came to me, and I refused to approve it,” Clarke testified. “I suggested that it be routed to the FBI and that the FBI look at the names of the individuals who were going to be on the passenger manifest and that they approve it or not. I spoke with the — at the time — No. 2 person in the FBI, Dale Watson, and asked him to deal with this issue. The FBI then approved … the flight.”"

Clarke added:
"Clarke said yesterday that the furor over the flights of Saudi citizens is much ado about nothing.

“This is a tempest in a teapot,” he said, adding that, since the attacks, the FBI has never said that any of the passengers aboard the flight shouldn’t have been allowed to leave or were wanted for further investigation. "

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Senator Kerry floated another campaign fundraising idea to his staff during today's strategy meeting at campaign headquarters in Washington D.C.. Kerry proposed requesting all democratic state parties to reschedule to Democratic election for President a full month after the Republican election for president, complete with an entirely new ballot consisting of his name only.

Under his plan, the Republicans would all still have to vote on Novemeber 3rd, but then the local party chapters would schedule a second vote, for Democrats or anyone else who wanted to vote for Kerry on December 5th. "The beauty part of the plan is that federal spending limits end on November 3rd, so that for the next month we could keep spending away at no risk of campaign finance laws." said Campaign spokesperson Sheila Whitely-White. "We will run that Moore movie on T.V. 24 hours a day on every channel! It will be awesome!"

The Republican campaign has not issued a comment on this new plan, but an extremely senior campaign director, who chose to speak off the record so that he could be honest, and is in no way shape or form a figment of this reporters imagination, stated "This tactic scares the bejesus out of us! We are surely gonna lose now! Help Help! My hair is on fire! Is it too late to change parties!"

Kerry pre-empted any Republican response, and assumed they were against it, stated, "the Republicans are complaining about this move because it just neutralizes their natural fundraising and electoral advantage. Also it is likely unconstitutional. Waah waaah wahh. Crybabies."

Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month in Baghdad, a defense official said Tuesday.

The determination, made by a laboratory in the United States that the official would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found: the bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield

"Military officials have said the shell bore no labels to indicate it was anything except a normal explosive shell, the type used to make scores of roadside bombs in Iraq "

Well that settles it. Iraq had at least one chemical weapon. With the mustard gas shell, they had two.

Madonna has officially been deemed no longer qualified as even "like a virgin" and has therefore been forced to remove the song's performance from her upcoming tour. The decision to remove the song came a rough blow to the already controversy ridden tour. Before the first performance the "re-Invention Tour" has gone through four different nannies, three seperate nurse maids, a whole troupe of pay to play 'friends' for little Lourdes, and six seperate Kabballah svengali's.

This latest setback, however, did not come as a complete surprise to the twice married 63 year old mother of two. "Too be honest, I thought they would have revoked her status after she slept with Dennis Rodman." Madonna publicist J. D. "Dawg" Sheiblatt stated. " There are some things that just never return to normal after a date with Dennis. Not to mention the close to a jillion other guys she slept with."

Music officials had previously considered removing her from the "like a virgin" qualified list after she had her first and second child, but were reminded that it was possible for a Madonna to have a child and still qualify as virginal.

Insiders say that it was eventually her haughty faux matronly attitude she has exhibited recently during her clidren's book tour that foreclosed the possibility of any virginal classification. "The children's book really put her out to pasture,"said one long time Madonna fan,"I mean what type of virgin writes a Kabbalah based children's book, and then reads it on Oprah with a fake English accent?"

"I am really going to miss her performing "Like a Virgin,"', said one ticket holder prior to Madonna's Los Angeles concert, " but hopefully she will replace it with a ten minute lecture on Kabballah, or an ill informed diatribe on global politics, or maybe just another extended masturbatury dance sequence."

The New York Times > Massianinc Militarist?: "Ralph Nader, the independent candidate for president, condemned President George W. Bush yesterday as a 'messianic militarist' who should be impeached for pushing the nation into a war in Iraq 'based on false pretenses.'"

Messianic Militarist?

Wow.

I wonder if Ralph is going to go as far left as possible in order to moderate John Kerry for the rest of the electorate. Is it possible that in their little meeting Kerry told Nader to go crazy left. As far out there as possible. So that he could then distance himself from those comments and place himself in the middle.

Not a bad strategy. Bush hatred has sewn up the left base for Kerry and the close election of 2000 has marginalized Nader. Now all kerry needs is those swing votes who might be afraid to vote for him because he is too liberal.

If he has a liberal bogeyman out to his left he can point to Nader and say "That is the left way out there. Look at me. I am in the middle between Bush and Nader."

Remeber when we were winning the Space Race? Yeah me too. What happened? Funding? Imagination? Desire? Anyway: "Russia successfully launched a cargo spacecraft Tuesday that is to bring fuel, food, air, water and mail for the Russian-American crew of the international space station, an official at mission control outside Moscow said. "

I know its nice that we have two remote control cars driving all over the surface of Mars and that is flat out fantastic. A tribute to the scientific community.

But the space game is still being played in near space and the only thing we have sent up there recently have been a couple of amatuer efforts.

Monday, May 24, 2004

Has the Jessica Cutler story inspired you to travel on the road to power, whilst remaining firmly on your back? Do you too want to see the inside of Washington's sleaziest hotels, hang out with the uber-powerful Washington Insiders like Agency Chief-s of Staffs, Senate Intern coordinators, appropriations aides?

If so, you may be asking yourself how? Well obviously you will need to check your morality at the door and pick up alot of lubricant.

Then you need to apply to be an unpaid Senate intern. Where?

Well here is an example:

"031803 - INTERNS -Northeast Democratic Senator seeks unpaid Interns. Excellent experience for recent graduates or college students seeking Hill experience. Interns spend half their time providing administrative support, and half their time performing research, drafting correspondence, and attending hearings for legislative staff. Priority given to applicants with strong writing ability and individuals who can work full-time, or as many full days per week as possible. E-mail resume, cover letter, one writing sample, and names/phone numbers of two references to....."

I let you fill in the blank and follow the link (caution it may take a while and you need to go into few, ahem five ahem, pages.

Note that the above job description only details about half of the jobs you will actually be performing. The bonus being that you actually get paid for the unlisted job activities.

So buck up, America's graduates. With one phone call you too can become the belle of of the swamp we call Washington D.C.. At least for three or four days anyway. Then its a book deal and a guest host spot on the View!

Kerry: Bike Flip-Flopper
John Kerry says he can ride a bike ... but when he rides a bike, John Kerry falls.
Don't you want a leader who can ride a bike?
George W. Bush. Steady bike riding during times of change"

It looks like a great evening to watch T.V. NBC has an episode of Fear Factor, which is just always great. The Fox network is showing the finale of The Swan, I can't wait!! What will the lovely ladies look like? Who will be the lovligliest?

ABC has the broadcast premiere of Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind," nice. So so movie, but anything with Jennifer Connolley is must see T.V.. Oh and by broadcast premier, they mean the first time it has been shown by a free channel. Anyone with cable or $3.00 and a VCR has probably seen this movie already. It is over 3 years old.

CBS has two of America's most beloved and highest quality shows in its 8-9 p.m. "comedy block" -- season finales of “Yes, Dear” and “Still Standing.” Both consistently rise to the top of the comedy heap and it is a a shame and a travesty that Lady Emmy has not landed on their doorstep. Our Lady Viewer for that matter.

Arrrggggh. I wish I had four teevee's and eight eyes and four butts so that I watch all the programs at once.

It is easy to see why, with just soooo much quality counter programmign the NETWORKS HAVE DECIDED NOT TO AIR PRESIDENT BUSH"S WAR TIME ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE FATE OF OURS TROOPS, OUR ECONOMY AND OUR NATIONAL RESOLVE.

Quite understandable indeed. It's not like there are any outstanding issues in Iraq that need be addressed. Like when are the 135,000 troops coming home, what are the costs of the war, who will we hand over authority to on June 30, what role will the U.N. play, have we found more WMD, how will we address the issues of ABU Ghraib and Nick Berg. Little things like that. And with an upcoming Presidential Election its not overly important to know what the incumbant President's plan is for Iraq.

Minor really when compared to testicle eating, competitive plastic surgery, a four year old movie, and the comedy stylings of whoever's on those crap CBS shows ( Jim Belushi maybe? I have no idea.)

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Nuclear Power, Now our only Hope....: "Global warming is now advancing so swiftly that only a massive expansion of nuclear power as the world's main energy source can prevent it overwhelming civilisation, the scientist and celebrated Green guru, James Lovelock, says.
His call will cause huge disquiet for the environmental movement. It has long considered the 84-year-old radical thinker among its greatest heroes, and sees climate change as the most important issue facing the world, but it has always regarded opposition to nuclear power as an article of faith. Last night the leaders of both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth rejected his call."

It has always been a puzzler to me as to why the environmentalist are so opposed to nuclear power. It may likely be due in part to naivete'. As someone who grew up after the events at 3 Mile Island and a world away from Chernyenko, I do not have the personal experience with nuclear power disaster.

But now that a major environmentalist has suggested the process as the best hope for the planet, I say why not.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Moody's Upgrades California, Citing Recovery: " leading Wall Street ratings agency on Friday raised California's credit rating, citing an improving economy, the first such upgrade in four years and a move that promised to bring down the state's borrowing costs on $44 billion in debt.

Analysts saw the unexpected credit upgrade by Moody's Investors Service as an endorsement of the steps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) has taken to bring California back from the brink of a fiscal crisis that drove its credit ratings near junk levels and had threatened to effectively shut the state out of the bond market for new borrowing. "

Friday, May 21, 2004

Initial report indicate that the shells are not sarin, but tests are being run right now.

More important is the picture that accopanies the story. These guys look like they are actually chillin'. I wonder if sunglasses worn are part of the official Army equipment issue. If they are, nice choice.

Lead levels in DC drinking water fell significantly after the city's water treatment plants switched to chlorine for annual pipe-flushing this spring, providing the first concrete evidence of the cause of excessive lead levels in thousands of homes." The Post states, "Experts have wondered for months whether the city's lead problem could be blamed on a change in disinfectants, from chlorine to chloramines, at the water treatment plants in 2000. Lead levels in household tests exceeded the federal standard in 2002 and have continued to do so." The Post adds, "The treatment plants stopped using chlorine because it creates byproducts that are linked to cancer with chronic exposure. Water experts say further study is needed before they decide whether chlorine will play a role in solving the city's lead problem."

" Portland lawyer arrested in connection with the Madrid terror attacks was set free Thursday after evidence pointed to another suspect.
Grasping a Quran and a Muslim prayer rug, 37-year-old Brandon Mayfield was released from federal custody, two weeks after his arrest."

Best Blind Golpher in history....can see.: "His uncanny ability to hit fairways and greens using only verbal instructions from a helper has seen Briton David Morris twice become world blind golf champion. But now critics say he has somewhat of an advantage - he can see."

And this:

"Among evidence gathered against Morris is video footage showing him apparently walking around his home town of Newquay, southwest England, without using a stick. In one sequence he strides confidently across a road, negotiates a narrow gap between parked cars and then swerves to avoid a dog, "